This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Lyle Hoffman, professor of physics, will give a lecture entitled “The Life Stories of Galaxies” noon-1 p.m. today in Gagnon Lecture Hall (room 100), Hugel Science Center.
Free and open to the public, the event is sponsored by Physics Club. Free pizza will be provided.
Hoffman teaches advanced physics courses, classes in Cosmology and Physics of Music for non-scientists, and fundamental physics (calculus-based) for engineers and scientists.
His research interests include extragalactic radio astronomy using Arecibo Observatory at National Astronomy & Ionosphere Center, Puerto Rico, and Very Large Array at National Radio Astronomy Observatory, New Mexico. The data acquired at these observatories allow him to investigate the internal structure and dynamics of individual dwarf and spiral galaxies; the motions of these galaxies about the Local Supercluster of galaxies; and the effects of the galaxies’ environment on their gas content and evolution.
Hoffman’s work has been supported by a National Science Foundation grant. He has collaborated with astronomers at Cornell University, University of Minnesota, the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, and University of Pittsburgh along with those at Arecibo.
He also conducts studies of spiral and irregular galaxies.
Hoffman’s recent research with students has included a project with EXCEL Scholar Salman Mujahid ’04, an electrical and computer engineering major from Bahawalpur, Pakistan, to compare three major radioastronomical image processing systems (see related story).
He also has worked with EXCEL Scholar Ajay Hirani ’04, a double major in physics and mathematics from Maharashtra, India, to observe high velocity clouds — gas clouds in space that are controversial because astronomers haven’t determined whether they’re in our galaxy or another one (see related story). The project included a trip to Arecibo in Puerto Rico.